Winter Night (or How Mary and Molly got to know each other)

A/N: Well, I was unsure about posting this or not, but my lovely ladies in the Sherlolly Chatroom encouraged me, so here you have it! A one-shot based on my future Sherlock Fic series.

Something before: "Ekaterina Morgenstern/Katya" is Molly Hooper.

And: When they're talking in italics, that's russian (as I don't know russian, I'm writing it in english).

Finally: english is not my first language (spanish is), and I'm writing this directly, so sorry if you find any grammatical mistakes.

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It was a cold winter, there in Novosibirsk, but little Katya was untroubled.

She had never been bothered by the cold.

And that's what got her the "Ice Princess" nickname between the servants in the first place.

Obviously, her grandmother didn't knew anything about those stupid nicknames the servants used for her little 8 year-old granddaughter.

Katya was clever girl, and even if the manor's servants could be a little mean from time to time, she didn't want them dead.

The poor little girl still had in her mind the murder of her last governess. Sometimes, she even could smell her blood in her little hands (but that was plainly stupid, because THAT had happened almost two months ago, and she had taken a lot of baths).

However, little Katya knew that that Monday was going to be special.

After years and years of endless pleas, her dear Gran was going to let her out of the Manor's lands.

Finally, Katya would be able to walk through the Great Doors, and see (undercover and with bodywards near, of course) a bit of the near city, Omsk.

When her maid said that her Gran approved her departure, Katya put on her baggy brown sweatshirt, her black trousers and her well-worn trainers, put her platinum-blonde hair (characteristic in all the Morgenstern women) in a loose bun and got ready to go.

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Omsk's streets were awful in winter.

Katya was used to see corpses (had seen a lot of them since her very birth), but that didn't mean she wasn't affected by them.

She couldn't show any reaction, of course (otherwise, she would be beaten for showing such a stupid weakness), and it wasn't that the corpses repulsed her. She only felt... Pity.

Yes, pity for all those homeless people who just had to die there, in the snowy streets.

It seemed that Gorbachev's policies hadn't reached those poor souls.

She somehow managed to keep her emotions under control, focusing in her happiness of finally being able to see something more than the manor lands.

And the, of course, she saw that girl.

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Anna Galenka Rozanov Avilova was tired.

Like, hugely tired.

And those two jerks, the two homeless guys that had been assaulting her for the last month (Oh, how she hated those bastards), were back, assaulting her again, this time to steal the worn-out blanket some generous woman had thrown at her that morning.

Anna knew she needed the blanket. She needed it, or the siberian winter would took her as it's latest prey.

So she fighted. She fighted with all her force, but it wasn't enough.

They were two, and she one. One skinny, starving little 10 year-old girl.

She ended in the snowy street, cold and hopeless, spiting her own blood in the dirty snow.

She was doomed. With some luck, she would get to the next morning alive.

And then, while little Anna was thinking in her possible future, she heard the footsteps.

They were lighter than the ones from the bastards, so Ian and Petrov weren't back, but it still could be someone dangerous.

When Anna looked up, she saw an angel.

The girl couldn't be more than 8 years old. Her elfin features were framed with a very, very fair, long, blonde hair, that somehow had got itself free from a bun.

It only highligted the fairness of her skin, and her thin, pink lips.

Red eyes (yes, bloody red eyes, as impossible as Anna thought) stared at her, without giving any emotion up.

The girl had a baggy brown sweatshirt, with black trousers and well-worn trainers, surely better dressed than Anna for that awful winter wind, but she couldn't be sure that the girl wouldn't want... something else from her.

It happened, when some luckier homeless people (or simply undercover riches) had needs and just took advantage of the poorer ones.

So, even if she was beated, she glared at the girl with her most daring glance.

The red eyes seemed somehow amused with her, thought Anna.

And then the girl extended her little hand (slightly calloused) with a pacific smile in her beautiful elfin face.

-Get up, girl.

Her voice was sweet, but had a dangerous tone (a bit subtexted).

Anna took her hand, and got back on her feet, cleaning her bloody mouth with her own hand.

-Listen, girl. It doesn't matter who you were before. Not anymore, at least. I'm Ekaterina Morgenstern, and I'm getting you out of this shitty place. You will come with me to the Morgenstern Manor, and there you will be my new pet.

Pet? Anna would be lying if she said she wasn't scared.

That little girl seemed, suddenly, more dangerous than ever.

Everyone in Omsk knew about the Morgensterns.

That dangerous family, natural descent of Ekaterina The Great, by an illegitimate daughter of hers. The family that ruled Russia from the shadows, unbothered by the communists, or the revolutionarys. The ones that had isolated themselves from everyone and everything since Ivan VI of Russia (1740).

So, yes, Anna was scared, but also a bit gob-smacked.

What could want the Ice Princess of Russia from a homeless girl like her?

From the look on her face, Miss Morgenstern had deduced something, because her next words had an annoyed tone.

-I'm not going to rape you, silly girl, nor want I anything to do with that skinny body of yours. I want you as my new maid.

...And now Anna felt utterly stupid.

-Princess, I beg you forgiveness. I'm Anna Galenka...

But the Princess interrupted her mid-sentence.

-I don't care who you were before. Nor I wish to know your previous name. From now on, You will be Mary. My Mary Elizabeth. Understood?

Anna was gob-smacked. That little...! How dared she? Changing her name like that...

The girl made some kind of signal, and suddenly two muscled women were grabbing Anna.

"Well -thought the little Anna, seeing how that little elfin girl walked ahead of them all, moving like a damned panther-, she is a Morgenstern, indeed. So technically she could do whatever the hell she wanted to do..."

And without even realizing, Anna Galenka Rozanov Avilova and little Ekaterina Alexandra Marye Morgenstern put the first stone to the path that, in a distant future, would take them to London, with Sherlock Holmes and John Watson...

But then, of course, they wouldn't be "Anna" and "Ekaterina" anymore.

Mary Elizabeth Morstan (shortly Watson) and Molly Hooper shared knowing glances, without any word between them.

The best friends didn't even know each other, after all...

A/N: Yeah, that was my take in Mary Morstan's real name. Hope you all liked it!